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Questions about color are difficult to answer. Digital photos are really just trichromatic pixel arrays. The eyes of normal humans have four different photo activated proteins, each with it’s own frequency response curve. This means humans have four color input channels, but photos use only three. There is no way to accurately portray the color, we can only represent it.

Reds and yellows are interesting for another reason. The orange pigment in this mushroom is the same as the yellow pigment, the difference in color is due to concentration of the pigment in the mushroom flesh. The ‘red’ is really just dark yellow. Also note that red will change to yellow as you drop down the F-stop to the point of whiting out the photo. The difference between red and yellow seems to be a matter of degree rather than kind.

Light is key to making the colors look right. This photo was taken with three light sources, each of a different temperature.

Is the red oversaturated in this picture? My Canon EOS Rebel oversaturates the red something fierce in pictures of Amanita flavoconia. I’m looking for advice on how to get natural reds with the camera instead of having to diddle with Photoshop later.